Bourses continue to trade under serious selling pressure in late afternoon session

 Indian equity markets were trading under serious selling pressure in late afternoon session tracking a sell-off across global markets amid concerns about a new COVID variant. All sectors were trading deep in the red except pharmaceutical shares. The broader indices, BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index were also trading in red. Indusind Bank was down above 5% as the worst Sensex drag, followed by Tata Steel, SBI, and Maruti Suzuki India. Meanwhile, The India Volatility Index was up by 18.43%. In scrip specific development, Tarsons Products listed with 5.74% premium on the BSE. On the sectoral front, pharmaceutical shares traded in green despite credit rating agency, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report has said that the Indian pharmaceutical market (IPM) delivered slower growth of 5.0% in October 2021 than 12.4% in September 2021.

On the global front, all Asia and European markets were trading lower, as report of a newly identified and possibly vaccine-resistant coronavirus variant stoked fears of a fresh hit to global economy and drove investors out of riskier assets.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57486.87, down by 1308.22 points or 2.23% after trading in a range of 57251.52 and 58254.79. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 2.41%, while Small cap index was down by 1.81%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE was Healthcare was up by 2.20%, while Realty down by 5.11%, Metal down by 4.46%, Auto down by 3.52%, Basic Materials down by 3.25% and PSU was down by 3.22% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 3.89%, TCS up by 0.66%, Nestle up by 0.45% and Asian Paints up by 0.33%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 5.43%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 4.63%, Tata Steel down by 4.54%, Maruti Suzuki down by 4.36% and SBI down by 4.00% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, credit rating agency, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report has said that the Indian pharmaceutical market (IPM) delivered slower growth of 5.0% in October 2021 than 12.4% in September 2021.

As per the report, the acute therapy segment (up 8.1% yoy) performed relatively better than chronic segment (up 2.3% yoy). The acute therapy segment demonstrated robust performance since March 2021 (average growth at 30% yoy) owing to lower base last year.

Credit rating agency further noted that post normalisation of the high growth months of April 2021 (up 51.5% yoy) and May 2021 (up 47.8%) led by the Covid-19-led lockdown related lower base last year and higher volume growth, the average IPM growth from June to October 2021 has been healthy (up 12.6% yoy).

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17139.25, down by 397.00 points or 2.26% after trading in a range of 17068.85 and 17355.40. There were 6 stocks advancing against 44 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 7.42%, Divi's Lab up by 5.27%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 3.86%, TCS up by 0.68% and Nestle up by 0.44%. On the flip side, JSW Steel down by 7.01%, Hindalco down by 5.69%, BPCL down by 5.52%, Indusind Bank down by 4.95% and Tata Consumer down by 4.94% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading lower, Nikkei 225 slipped 747.66 points or 2.53% to 28,751.62, Hang Seng decreased 659.64 points or 2.67% to 24,080.52, Taiwan Weighted dropped 284.80 points or 1.61% to 17,369.39, Jakarta Composite lost 137.80 points or 2.06% to 6,561.55, Straits Times trembled 61.70 points or 1.92% to 3,159.82, KOSPI fell 43.83 points or 1.47% to 2,936.44 and Shanghai Composite was down by 20.09 points or 0.56% to 3,564.09.

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 241.13 points or 3.3% to 7,069.24, France’s CAC decreased 307.59 points or 4.35% to 6,768.28 and Germany’s DAX was down by 567.29 points or 3.56% to 15,350.69.